January 18, 2001

Congolese Officials Say Kabila Is Dead, but Give Few Details

By IAN FISHER with RACHEL L. SWARNS

IGALI, Rwanda, Jan. 18 — After two days of confused and conflicting statements, Congolese officials confirmed today that President Laurent Kabila was dead. In a televised address this evening, a government spokesman said the president had died of wounds he sustained in a gun battle at the presidential palace on Tuesday.

"Congo is mourning," Dominique Sakombi, the communications minister, said in a statement on the government-run television.

Mr. Sakombi said that Mr. Kabila had died en route to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, where he was being flown for treatment of his wounds.

For the last two days, Congolese officials had insisted that Mr. Kabila was alive, even while some African and Western governments were saying that he had died. Foreign officials said that Congolese officials likely held off an official announcement of the death in an attempt to buy time to put a succession in place.

South African officials said they were officially informed of Mr. Kabila's death by Congolese officials this afternoon.

"What has now been confirmed is that President Kabila did die of his wounds that were inflicted a few days ago," Aziz Pahad, South Africa's deputy foreign minister, said in an interview on state radio.

"I think that confirms what we have strongly believed to have been the truth for a while," Mr. Pahad said, "but of course protocol does not allow one to officially pronounce this until the government makes a statement."

Zimbabwe's defense minister, Moven Mahachi, said Congolese officials were making arrangements to send Mr. Kabila's body back to Congo from Zimbabwe. "We are waiting for directives from the Congolese," Mr. Mahachi said in an interview today in Harare. "They will tell us what they want to do with the body. Within two or three days, they will be able to do it."

As reports about Mr. Kabila shifted back and forth, his eldest son, Joseph. assumed the role of interim leader of Congo's wobbling government on Wednesday. The government has been opposed by three rebel groups and two outside nations since Mr. Kabila took over in 1997.

These enemies, aware that the uncertainty could explode into greater violence, called for a renewed commitment to a peace accord that was signed in mid-1999 — though not respected by any side.

"He has been a difficult man, but it is not in our tradition to derive pleasure from people dying," Joseph Bideri, spokesman for the Rwandan government, said on Wednesday. "However, it is important to point out that President Kabila was an obstacle" to honoring the peace accord. Rwanda and Uganda have backed rebel groups opposed to Mr. Kabila and stationed their own troops in Congo.

Early on Wednesday Mr. Kabila was flown to Zimbabwe, which has been an ally since August 1998 in helping to fight off the rebel threat. The Zimbabwe state news agency, Ziana, then reported that Mr. Kabila's body was being held in the capital, Harare, and would be flown back to Congo for burial.

"Apparently the president died on the plane to Harare," Dr. Kikaya Bin Karubi, Congo's ambassador to Zimbabwe, said in an interview in Harare on Wednesday. "He was coming for medical treatment. He was still alive."

Mr. Mahachi, the Zimbabwean defense minister, said Congolese officials made the decision to bring Mr. Kabila to Zimbabwe as the wounded president was being flown from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.

"They actually informed us while they were flying," he said. "We obviously have better medical facilities than our friends. Zimbabwe could not say, `No, don't come here.' We could not say no, when someone is in such condition."

Little has been made public about how Mr. Kabila suffered his fatal injuries. What is known is that a gun battle reportedly erupted on Tuesday between President Kabila and members of his armed forces inside the presidential palace in Kinshasa. It was not clear if the battle was an actual attempt at a coup.

Several outside officials said the fight appeared to result from an argument between the president and his generals, who seem to have grown increasingly dissatisfied with Mr. Kabila.

Either way, cabinet ministers announced on Wednesday that Maj. Gen. Joseph Kabila, a son of the president who already leads Congo's armed forces, would become interim president. General Kabila, who was also rumored to have been wounded in the gun battle, was not been seen in public, though an undated film of him was broadcast on television.

"Until President Kabila has recovered, and to ensure stability, the government has decided to give command of the government and military to Maj. Gen. Joseph Kabila," Dominique Sakombi Inongo, a government spokesman, said after a cabinet meeting in Kinshasa on Wednesday.

General Kabila, 31, is little known outside the military, and is said to be a more private person and without the charisma that his father, a longtime if mostly unsuccessful guerrilla fighter, could display. Raised outside Congo when his father was in exile, he has faced criticism for not being able to speak Lingala, the main language of Congo.

The troops of six outside nations are on Congo's soil, the largest contingent coming from Zimbabwe.

Mr. Mahachi said today that Zimbabwe would keep its 12,000 troops in Congo to continue to support Mr. Kabila's government. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe rushed back home early today to deal with the crisis in Congo. He had been in Cameroon attending a meeting with dozens of African presidents and government officials.

In Cameroon, Mr. Mugabe held closed-door discussions with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, and French President Chirac, officials said. He urged them to put their weight behind the faltering peace process in Congo. Senior Zimbabwe officials said they believe Mr. Chirac has influence over Rwandan officials, who have been supporting the rebel invasion of Congo.

Mr. Mugabe also met with President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and called for a general meeting between the allied forces of Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia, who are all fighting in support of Mr. Kabila's government. "We're going to discuss the situation and see what the way forward is," Mr. Mugabe said in an interview broadcast on state television Thursday evening. Mr. Annan released a statement in Cameroon expressing his shock at President Kabila's death. He appealed to the neighbors of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including countries that have joined its civil war in support of the government or the insurgents, not to let Mr. Kabila's slaying scuttle attempts to bring peace to the region.

"I earnestly hope that the peace process in the D.R.C. will not be derailed by the sudden death of President Kabila and that the political and security situation in the country would not be destabilized further," Mr. Annan said in the statement, which was released through the Secretariat in New York. "I appeal to all the parties to work towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict."

In 1996 Rwanda and Uganda, on Congo's eastern border, supported Mr. Kabila in a push to rid the nation, then known as Zaire, of its long-time dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Mobutu fell the next year, and Mr. Kabila took power. But Rwanda and Uganda quickly grew disenchanted with Mr. Kabila.

In August 1998, Rwanda and Uganda supported another rebellion, this time against Mr. Kabila. As rebel soldiers moved in on Kinshasa, Mr. Kabila was rescued by Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia and, for several months, soldiers from Chad.

The assistance offered over the last day by Zimbabwe highlights the powerful role that the country has continued to play in supporting Mr. Kabila's government. Zimbabwe has deployed the largest army to fight alongside Mr. Kabila's forces: Altogether, 12,000 Zimbabwean soldiers are fighting the rebels. (Angola and Namibia each have 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers there, foreign analysts say.)

As a reward for its support, Mr. Kabila had allowed Zimbabwe's generals to exploit Congo's timber, gold and diamonds. The profitable alliance also led to a close relationship between Mr. Kabila and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.